built in boundries

[DakotaBC]

I have a 9 week old BC and she is amazing!!! My first BC. Anyway I am amazed at how she instinctively knows the boundries of our 1 acre yard. She will not go outside of our yard even when the ball she is playing with gets pushed into the neighbors yard. The problem I am having is that I can't get her to walk on a leash with me. When ever we are walking away from the house she wants to pull or just sit down??? Once I turn around she is very excited to get back to her house and walks just fine (with normal puppy excitement). Any Ideas that will help me out???? I have never trained a puppy to walk before, maybe I am doing it all wrong!!

[Tassie]

At 9 weeks, I wouldn't be worried about that too much. You can practise nice leash walking just round your own yard.

 

Depending on whether there are unvaccinated dogs in your neighbourhood, I'd probably be cautious about walking her outside your own yard anyway, at least until she's had her booster shots.

 

For nice loose lead walking, I like to use treats and/or a toy to help focus the pup on me. If she sits down, you can use it to get her excited. If she pulls, you just stand still, wait for her to turn towards you to see what's happening, and then treat/play/praise her as the leash goes slack. So - pulling - gets no attention/reward/movement - while paying attention to you gets all of those.

 

It's great that she's learning her boundaries - but please don't expect that she'll always observe them. She's only a baby at present, but when she grows to be a teenager, you can expect teenage rebellion - and some become teenagers fairly early on.

[Kat's Dogs]

Most pups do tend to stay by the house when they are young - when they get older unless you enfoce it, they will usually lose that.

 

Right now she is still very young and just wants to stay home, that is OK for now IMO. Once she has shots she needs to get out and about and by that age she should be a little more ready for it. Main thing is, don't force it. That will make her think that the leash, and walks, are not fun - and you don't want that!

 

So go ahead and leash train her on your own yard, once she has her vaccs, try taking her out a little farther.

[Meg's mum]

I agree, she's VERY young to be taking walks off property. In a few weeks she'll be ok to go to puppy obedience and a park with you then work forward from there to a walk.